Wednesday, February 3, 2016

YALSA's The Hub 2016 Reading Challenge- Graphic Novels

Since I really enjoyed pushing myself to read all five books for the Morris Challenge, I decided to follow it up with YALSA's The Hub 2016 Reading Challenge. It involves reading YA books from various award lists. The goal is to read at least 25 books from these lists or read all of the titles if you're really ambitious. Any books that were read for the Morris/Nonfiction Challenge can be counted toward your total.

I decided to tackle some of the titles listed on the Top Ten Great Graphic Novels list first because two of them were already sitting on my night stand TBR pile.

I'm an adult and I'm not ashamed to admit I read graphic novels. I started with the Walking Dead series and then graduated to Gene Yuen Yang's American Born Chinese and Boxers & Saints. To all of the haters who complain that graphic novels aren't "real" books and that teens shouldn't waste their limited time reading comics, here are a couple of websites that explain how graphic novels can actually improve reading comprehension and create stronger readers:Comics in Education and Scholastic's Guide to Using Graphic Novels With Children and Teens.

Now back to the Challenge. I read the first graphic novel in the Ms. Marvel series last year. Even though I've seen most of the Marvel superhero movies, this was my first superhero read. Muslim-American teen, Kamala Khan's superpowers were revealed to her after she is enveloped in the Terrigen Mists that settled over Jersey City. She takes on the Ms. Marvel persona as needed to fight the evils that descend on her city. Kamala struggles to live up to her parents' high expectations while still being true to herself. Kamala is a gamer, fanfic writer, and superhero fan. She will appeal to many readers.

Roller Girl

Victoria Jamieson

Roller Girl tells the story of twelve-year-old Astrid, who falls in love with roller derby after her mother takes Astrid and her friend Nicole to watch the Rose City Rollers. Astrid is enthralled but Nicole doesn't feel the same way. As Astrid follows her passion, she and Nicole drift apart. This book will resonate with middle readers who are starting to develop interests that may not be in line with those of their childhood friends. I think that this is a good graphic novel to recommend to readers who enjoyed The Thing about Jellyfishby Ali Benjamin. Both books explore preteen friendship.